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Thursday, April 12, 2012

Welcome! Today is my stop on the Festival of Half Square Triangles from Canoe Ridge Creations. All month Megan (of CRC) has had tons of inspiring guest tutorials all using HST's. Then starting next week you can link-up your projects that use HST's and are entered in to win awesome prizes. Click here to find out more!

Ever wanted to know how to make a pillowcase? Maybe a pillowcase with some pretty details or piecing? Well look no further!

Pretty Pillowcase Tutorial

I will give instructions for two different pillows, a chevron pillowcase and a pinwheel pillowcase. All fabric/cutting requirements are for a single pillowcase. If you would like to make both you will need to double accordingly.

Create HST's using all the 3.5" x 3.5" solids and prints. For pinwheels a total of 12 HST's. For chevron a total of 16 HST's. If you need help making Half Square Triangles I have a tutorial for the method I use HERE. Square each HST to 3" x 3".

Tip:If you are new to HST's or still can't get it perfect I recommend cutting your squares a little larger than required, by 1/4". In the end you can cut it down to size with a little trimming.

Create pinwheels and chevrons pieces like below:

Piece together band. Piece together first side to side and then top to bottom.

Note: Numbers shown below are the cut fabric requirements, not the finished sizes. I wanted you to know which pieces to use.

click to enlarge

From here on out the instructions are the same for the pinwheel pillowcase and chevron pillowcase. I will use whichever picture describes the instructions best regardless of design.

Now we put it all together. This is what is known to me as the "burrito method". What is great about this is it allows the band to be lined, but all of your seams end up on the inside. There are 5 steps and photos below of each step.

Step 1: With the design on the top (important!) place the main pillowcase and band right sides together.

Step 2: Match the unfinished top edges of the band and main piece exactly together.

Step 3: Take the bottom of the main piece and carefully roll it up until you see about half of the band underneath.

Step 4: Bring the band back over the rolled main piece.

Step 5: Pin the three edges together, taking care to keep all the unfinished edges matched.

Phew! We're almost there!

If you have a serger I would serge along the pinned edge. If not do as I did, sew a straight line and zig-zag over top.

Next pull out the main pillowcase piece. You'll see how nice it looks! Press entire piece.

the extra gray hanging out the bottom is the other pillowcase :)

Fold pillowcase together and sew along the bottom and side. Again if you have a serger I would use it here or sew a straight line and zig-zag overtop.

Turn pillowcase right side out and press. I top stitched along both the bottom of the band and top of the pillowcase. It helps everything lay nicer plus adds a more professional look!

Done!! I am so happy with how these turned out and am wondering what took me so long!! I can't wait to bust out a few more!

Please let me know if there are any issues with this tutorials. I will respond in the comment section.